Charleston, WV

By Lexistential Crisis

Naptown Roller Girls (seed 5, #21) kept up with the Atlanta Rollergirls (seed 4, #13) throughout the first half of Game 6 of the International 2014 WFTDA D1 Playoffs in Charleston, West Virgina, but Atlanta extended the score in the second half for a solid win. Naptown of Indianapolis, Indiana, and Atlanta of Atlanta, Georgia, last played each other in July with a similar outcome, as Atlanta won 221-72.

Photo by Louis Keiner

Naptown’s Asian Sinsation explained that her team came into this game expecting to work on executing all the plays they’ve been working on since last time they played Atlanta. “This is probably one of the best bouts we’ve had as far as supporting each other,” she said, and that it was a culmination of all the work they’ve done this year.

Naptown took a small 4-1 lead after the first two jams, and held the lead once more after Cherry-oto-Fire had a 20-point jam to make the score 46-34. Solid, fluid walls allowed Naptown’s blockers to hold back Atlanta’s jammer Choke Cherry for the full two-minute jam. Just a few jams later Atlanta regained the lead thanks to the offensive efforts of Belle of the Brawl, Jammunition, and Jean-Juke Picard. With under 12 minutes left in the half, Atlanta had a 1-point advantage over Naptown with 47.

Atlanta continued to extend their lead as Jammunition scored 30 points with about 10 minutes left in the half. As she juked around the Naptown blockers, Atlanta blockers Queen Loseyateefa, Rebel Yellow, and Nattie Long Legs stopped Naptown’s G-Rocket from getting out of the pack.

Toward the end of the first half, Naptown worked hard to score points of their own, as Atlanta continued to extend their lead. Maiden America added 11 points to Naptown’s total across her last three jams of the half and was lead for two of those. Atlanta finished the half still in the lead with a score of 109 to Naptown’s 57.

The second half started with Atlanta claiming the jammer line for their wall, and Jammunition claiming her eighth lead jammer status (out of eight jams). Atlanta held Naptown scoreless for the first five jams of the half despite some great defensive work by Naptown blockers Wham Bam and Dora the Destroyer.

Maiden America was able to score the first 10 points of the half for Naptown, as lead jammer Belle of the Brawl decided to extend the jam to get some blockers out of the penalty box. Naptown was held scoreless or to single digits for every other jam of the second half while Atlanta jammers Jammunition, Jean-Juke Picard, and Belle of the Brawl all had double-digit jams.

With less than 12 minutes left in the game, the score was 189-74 in favor of Atlanta. Naptown was quickly switching from defense to offense in a strong effort to help their jammer out of the pack and to minimize Atlanta’s scoring. However, Atlanta’s defense continued to fluidly recycle and halt the Naptown jammers, and their subtle offense helped their jammers when necessary. With less than a minute left on the clock, Naptown jammer Eve Anne Hellical passed the jammer helmet cover over everyone’s heads to the pivot Dora The Destroyer, completing their most successful star pass of the game. Naptown took that positive momentum into the last jam where Maiden America earned lead jammer status. The aggressive Atlanta blocking brought her back into the pack and allowed Jammunition to score the final points of the game. Atlanta maintained a strong lead with a score of 224 to 81.

Jammunition lead Atlanta’s scoring with 94 points and an impressive 13/14 lead jammer calls. Belle of the Brawl, Choke Cherry, and Jean-Juke Picard added an additional 47, 42, and 41 points, respectively. Maiden America and Cherry-oto Fire were Naptown’s top scorers with 36 and 24 points.

Atlanta continues into the semifinals and will play Rose City Roller or Columbia QuadSquad in Game 9 at 2 pm EDT Saturday. Naptown moves to the consolation rounds where they will play SoCal in Game 8 tomorrow at 12 pm EDT.

Final Score

(4) Atlanta Rollergirls 224
(5) Naptown Roller Girls 81